Wednesday - March 04, 2015

Lords of the Fallen - Ancient Labyrinth Released

CI Games announced today the first major downloadable content for Lords of the Fallen called Ancient Labyrinth is now available for download on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Lords of the Fallen: Ancient Labyrinth DLC Now Available

Join Harkyn in his fight for redemption as Lords of the Fallen takes on the Ancient Labyrinth in the hit action-adventure's first major content expansion

WARSAW, Poland - March 3, 2015 - Internationally acclaimed game developer, publisher, and distributor CI Games today announced that the first major downloadable content for their hit title Lords of the Fallen is now available for download on PC, PS4, and Xbox One for $7.99. Lords of the Fallen: Ancient Labyrinth builds upon the existing lore, characters, and storyline of the popular action-RPG. Players can expect the same challenging gameplay that made the original release a fan-favorite, but with more rewards for playing through multiple times and exploring every dark corner of the Ancient Labyrinth.

Thursday - February 26, 2015

Lords of the Fallen - Ancient Labyrinth Update

by Couchpotato, 04:55

CI Games released a video about the Ancient Labyrinth DLC for Lords of the Fallen with news it will be released next week. So here the video, and a recap of the new DLC.

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Ancient Labyrinth incorporates an all-new storyline set in a long-forgotten library that exists somewhere between the human and demonic realms. With the DLC, players can explore the uncharted wilds of the Labyrinth, discover hidden secrets, and fight never-before-seen enemies with new weapons, shields, and armor, all in the name of destroying the evil that has shattered civilization. Players can expect the same challenging gameplay as fan-favorite Lords of the Fallen, but with more rewards for playing through multiple times and exploring every dark corner of the Ancient Labyrinth.

Lords of the Fallen - Post-Mortem @ Gamasutra

More than three years ago, the publisher CI Games gave us the incredible opportunity to create a new Action RPG. After Venetica, Lords of the Fallen was the second game of that genre that Deck13 was about to develop. Little did we know that we would end up on the then-nonexistent “next generation” hardware, work together with people from all over the world and win new fans from the most foreign of countries. We are unbelievably grateful but it has been a rather rough ride. We hope this postmortem help others not to fall into the same traps.

Wednesday - February 04, 2015

Lords of the Fallen - Ancient Labyrinth Delayed

Softpedia has news that CI Games has delayed the release of the Ancient Labyrinth DLC for Lords of the Fallen, and will now release it with the next patch in a few weeks.

CI Games recently confirmed the already announced Ancient Labyrinth DLC for Lords of the Fallen has been delayed until developer Deck 13 finishes work on the next patch for the base game.

Since its launch back in October 2014, Lords of Fallen has been plagued by lots of issues, as well as game breaking bugs. The game also has performance issue, as many players complain it’s not well optimized for PC.

While some of these major problems have already been addressed, there are still some that need to be fixed and Deck 13 promised the next patch would correct some of them.

Since CI Games announced Lords of the Fallen would be getting a new DLC in late January, many players complained that developers should first focus on fixing the game instead of adding new content.

It looks like both CI Games and Deck 13 have taken note of the feedback and have decided to deliver the new DLC, along with next patch that are already working on.

A new release date will be announced soon

Since the patch isn’t ready yet, the Ancient Labyrinth DLC has been delayed until the update is ready. An exact release date hasn’t been provided so far, but CI Games stated that they would share a new date soon.

There’s a high chance that both will be delivered in February, though Deck 13 and CI Games are still in the process of narrowing down the release date for the patch and Ancient Labyrinth DLC.

Sunday - January 11, 2015

Lords of the Fallen - Free Soundtrack for Buyers

IncGamers has information CI Games has included the games soundtrack for free to all buyer in a new update on Steam. Here are the details straight form the site.

CI Games’ Lords of the Fallen has received a large update today, which… appears to add the game’s soundtrack as an extra.

The 500MB update currently has no associated patch notes or press release that I can find, but a bit of ferreting around in the directory indicates that it’s probably the addition of a digital soundtrack. I’m not certain about this, but if it turns out I’m horribly wrong, I’ll amend the story.

PC users already have the “Digital Deluxe” edition (because it’s the only one available, as far as I can see) containing the game, a digital map, and a digital artbook, but the large download on offer today adds in a /Soundtrack/ directory which holds 15 .wav files.

This might not be the patch a lot of you were waiting for (especially as a few people are apparently having serious issues with Lords of the Fallen, which our own Peter Parrish thought was rather good) but it’s a nice little gesture while the devs beaver away at the next lot of fixes.

Lords of the Fallen - New Q&A @ Game Informer

Will the expansion offer anymore in the way of new classes or class variety? New spells?

The expansion is not changing much in terms of character development. There will be new equipment and weapons, but since it will be woven into the actual playthrough (players will access it from within the game), we decided not to implement new skills into it.

Will the expansion include fixes for many of the technical issues that cropped up in the core game? Will the expansion be more rigorously prepared to avoid any serious technical problems?

We are releasing the game patch before the DLC, so we are planning to fix most of the issues even earlier. Still, together with the expansion’s release we do plan to include as many general game fixes as possible of course.

Saturday - January 03, 2015

Lords of the Fallen - More Reviews to Read

Lords Of The Fallen is a slightly more accessible Dark Souls style game. While there is a certain level of difficulty as a result, I consider Lords Of The Fallen to be a good single player focused entry point into the hardcore RPG. However, it would be nice to see City Interactive provide a helping hand to those still significantly challenged, through the addition of optional DLC such as more potions, or better armor and weapons to help with bosses.

Game of the Year lists have rolled in and a fair few will have likely mentioned Dark Souls 2 in some sense. It is an easy top ten participant after all. Yet, Lords of the Fallen won’t be given the same credit, despite it essentially being a clone of the former. There’s a reason for that: Lords of the Fallen, the game, isn’t Dark Souls 2, the name. More so, Lords of the Fallen is an improvement on the Souls model and actually makes for a better game. So, if anything, it should be the copycat making its way into many regurgitated lists full of similar titles.

Sunday - December 21, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Patch 1.4 Released

by Couchpotato, 04:23

CI Games announces that patch 1.4 is now available for download off Steam for Lords of the Fallen. Here is a short description off the games website from the developer.

The update (version 1.4) has been released for all the platforms: PS4, XB1, and PC (earlier). Yes, it’s taken us quite some time to put it up, sorry to keep you waiting. We hope that, even though it’s kinda last-minute, it still serves you well if you wish to spend some quality time with the game during Season Holidays.

May Your Rhogar hunt bring you awesome loot!

In case you’re a stats geek: there were total 261 issues that our devteam has identified, fixed and tested since last console update. That’s 81 issues for PS4, 41 for XB1, and 109 for PC (mind you, these sets overlap, and there are no “All-Platform” issues listed here). All three versions of the game are now at the same update branch, which means that all general fixes we have been releasing for the PC users in the meantime, are also included in the console update at this stage.

Thursday - December 18, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - iOS/Android Ports Announced

by Killias2, 16:44

In addition to the recently announced sequel, Deck 13 has also announced iOS and Android ports of the first Lords of the Fallen. It is unclear what, if any, changes will be made for these ports, but both are expected to be released in 2015.

Sunday - November 16, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - PC Performance Analysis

Lords of the Fallen’s PC RAM requirements surprised us when CI Games announced them. According to them, the game requires at least 6GB of RAM. Was this another COD: Ghosts case? Or not? Well, we can confirm that PC gamers will need more than 4GB of RAM in order to – properly – enjoy it. As we can see below, the game itself used almost 3GB of RAM, meaning that those with 4GB of RAM – provided there is no lock – will face major swapping issues.

Lords of the Fallen - Patch 1.3 Released

Patch 1.3 Notes

We would like to announce that patch 1.3 was just released. A few options have been added to the in-game settings including separate setting for Chromatic Abberation (Post Chromashift). Major gameplay issues have been fixed with the update.

The following features have been added to the game:

Separate Chromatic Abberation setting (Post Chromashift)

Invert X-axis option

Toggle target switching after killing an enemy option

A warning message when the user enables very high resolution textures (performance and stability issues)

List of fixed technical issues:

Damage value displayed in the inventory when a non-physical weapon is equipped

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @Power Up Gaming

Jan Klose: It was back in 2011, and it was a million ideas that slowly shaped into a single one, and that was to put all our focus on a single element, tactical combat, and to create everything else around that.

HW: Would it be a fair assessment in calling Lords of the Fallen a mix of Dark Souls and Warhammer?

JK: Well, we really try to do our own thing and not to just take what is already there. That said, we do love games like Warhammer and Dark Souls, but you will also find aspects of a lot of other games in Lords of the Fallen; some people mention Zelda and Darksiders.

So, I hope despite being a tactical duel-based action experience, people can judge it as a unique title.

HW: From the footage I've seen, Lords of the Fallen seems a very testosterone-driven game. Are there any female characters to balance this out?

JK: There's especially one female NPC accompanying the hero through the story, but you can't play the game as a female character – we would have loved to do that but it would have doubled our work in quite a lot of areas.

Still, we'd love to do that in the future, as other Deck13 games also featured female player characters.

Tuesday - November 11, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Development Diary #3

Learn how the Lords of the Fallen development team balanced the game between fun, rewarding and challenging. Discover the freedom of customization and how to unlock some of the most powerful weapons in the game!

Saturday - November 08, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Ancient Labyrinth DLC

by Couchpotato, 05:37

IGN spread the news that Lords of the Fallen is getting a new DLC called the Ancient Labyrinth. Here is the information from the website for those interested.

Ancient Labyrinth will have an emphasis on puzzle solving, exploration, and new enemy encounters. The DLC will introduce The Library, a new puzzle-filled location that will deeper explore the history of the game's protagonist, Harkyn. Players will also be faced with battling a magical ancient Lord, whose powers will constantly change throughout the fight.

The DLC will include a new demon-focused quest, as well as new side-quests and NPCs. Additionally, Ancient Labyrinth will introduce a new puzzle-based mechanic, along with new weapons and armor.

Lords of the Fallen - Review @ Chalgyr's

From the lack of a map to minimal resources like potions, Lords of the Fallen, while not as polished as the Dark Souls titles, is certainly worth the time and investment. Awaiting you is a decent tale of an ex-con turned war-time hero and an civilization's fight against overwhelming odds; I was hooked the moment I saw Lords of the Fallen at E3 and it paid off in every way possible.

Lords of the Fallen - Patch 1.2 Released

Patch 1.2 Notes

A new patch for Lords of the Fallen was just released. It fixes the APEX DLL issue that users have encountered lately. The patch improves the game stability.Patch notes:- Improved game stability- Advanced display settings are now saved after restart- Fixed Catacombs door spawn point- Fixed Catacombs pit issue- unfortunately, the fix does not get you out of the hole; it prevents occurrence of the issue.

We are still working on another patch that would improve other game stability & gameplay issues.

Lords of the Fallen - Face-Off @ Eurogamer

Looking at the two console versions it's rather difficult to give a solid recommendation here as neither version performs well. Image quality is certainly superior on PS4 and, while performance is quite similar, screen tear is more noticeable. On the other hand, the Xbox One version suffers from more severe judder and its frame-rate dips even lower than the sub-optimal PS4 version. Both versions are playable but neither feels enjoyable as a result of the low frame-rate and inconsistent performance. We'd give the nod to the PS 4 version if pressed, but we can't help feel this is not the way the game should be played.

That particular honour goes to the PC version of Lords of the Fallen. It's a demanding title, but even middling hardware should be able to achieve a more stable 30fps than the consoles - and without the intrusive tearing. It's just a shame that the finished product ended up shipping with so many performance problems as the game itself is actually rather well made and definitely worth playing. For now, we can only hope that Deck13 concentrates on optimising console performance.

Thursday - October 30, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - New Patch Released

Patch1.1 Notes

We would like to announce that the 'Nvidia turbulence' and v-sync options are now available in the advanced in-game video settings with the latest update. Disabling these options will improve the game performance and avoid most of the stability issues.

If you are having problems with the options not being saved after restarting the game, please try changing and applying the settings using a gamepad. We are aware of this issue and it is going to be patched ASAP.

There is also a temporary solution for users who cannot disable the Nvidia turbulence because of the in-game settings issue. Please do the following in order to disable the option manually (or instead change the in-game settings using a gamepad):

1. Open the game directory (right click on Lords of the Fallen in steam library, select properties, choose 'local files' tab, press 'browse local files')2. Run with notepad file settings.ini3. Find line 'apex_gpu_support_enabled = true'4. Change the value from 'true' to 'false' (so the line reads 'apex_gpu_support_enabled = false)5. Save the file6. Open documents7. Open Lords of the Fallen folder8. Repeat steps 2-5

Lords of the Fallen - Inteview @ Worldsfactory

You’ve built an in-house engine called FLEDGE for Lords of the Fallen. Can you tell us why you decided to do this instead of just using a third party engine such as Unreal Engine 4 or CryEngine?

We have been using our engine in the past for several other projects, such as Venetica, and we continued to extend and improve it for each new project we had building over the time a technology and a set of tools that matches closely the needs of our team. Using a third party engine, especially for large projects, may not be an ideal solution, especially if the whole team has to switch to a completely new workflow and there are still big technical questions on consoles performance. For us it was more convenient invest in our own technology, it required a lot of efforts, but it paid out in the end.

What’s the single feature of FLEDGE you’re most proud of? Also, would it be possible to create a seamless open world RPG with it, or would it be necessary to make a lot of changes?

It’s hard to answer to this question, I am proud of many aspects of our engine, but probably one of the best feature that can be appreciated in LotF is the volumetric lighting system. Our engine doesn’t support any complex streaming features yet, so a seamless open world would have been really difficult to achieve, but this is one of the aspects we are investing time and research for the next engine iteration.

Tuesday - October 21, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Early Preview Video

by Couchpotato, 05:37

A YouTube user by the name of Lobos Jr posted a five hour preview video of an early build of Lords of the Fallen provided to him from the games developer CI Games.

Thanks to the CI Games guys and Namco Bandai for allowing me to stream an early demo of the game! After playing through with all the classes, I'm very much looking forward to playing it at launch. My breakdown of class difficulty is as follows:

Lords of the Fallen - On Dropping the PS3 & 360

"Switching to next generation was one of the biggest challenges for this project. We had to find our definition of next generation in term of visual quality and scene complexity with basically no experience with the new hardware. This was a crucial phase because we had to base on that the new guidelines for artists and designers, affecting the whole content creation process. The more we progressed with porting our engine to the new consoles, the better we could adjust those guidelines trying to find the right balance of visual quality, scene richness and performance. Moreover, in order to achieve the best performance on the new hardware we decided to not maintain back compatibility with DirectX 9 and previous generation consoles. For example we dropped completely our deferred lighting renderer – necessary on the Xbox 360 – in favour of a full deferred rendering approach saving a nice amount of time in draw calls. Getting back to the question, we couldn’t have achieved such result on the previous generation hardware."

Sunday - October 12, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Comic-Con 2014 Preview

The demo doesn’t attempt to hold your hand, with nothing more than a small display showcasing the controls on the bottom of the screen you’re plunged into the demo without any tutorials. The first few enemies offer a moderate challenge but with a few well-paced attacks you'll gain access to more powerful hellish creatures. Controls are precise and timing your heavy and light swings is important to landing a damaging blow. Each enemy has a set attack pattern and memorizing these arrangement is paramount to defeating these creatures.

Like Dark Souls your character has a set amount of health, magic and stamina. Attacking, dodging and running all remains stamina and if not properly regulated you’ll find yourself defenseless against the ruthless adversaries that seek your death. Magical attacks are the most powerful offensive abilities but recharge very slowly, perhaps due to the characters equipment. The demo allows the player to customize small pieces of armor but it was limited to a small range of choices.

Combat is about managing your enemies and attempting to out maneuver them. Properly regulated how many enemies you’re facing, memorizing their pattern, and maintaining your health, magic and stamina is how you succeed in Lords of the Fallen.

Friday - October 10, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - New Hands-On Preview

by Couchpotato, 03:39

Capsule Computers had the chance to play a beta version of Lords of the Fallen, and posted a new Hands-On preview of their time playing the game.

Have you ever heard people say that Japanese Horror games are just scarier than American ones (taking the old vs newer Silent Hill games as prime examples of this)? Well Lords of the Fallen is in kind of the same vein. The European take on the action RPG genre seems to have resulted in a game that is challenging while lacking the soul-crushing difficulty of its FROMSOFTWARE competitor. As someone who always loves a challenge, I felt like Lords of the Fallen was missing something.

I enjoyed my very brief time with Lords of the Fallen, but I am still not sure if it does enough to separate itself from the heavyweights of the genre. I guess we will find out when Lords of the Fallen becomes available.

Monday - October 06, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview Roundup

Lords of the Fallenis out at the end of October and there is definitely a lot of promise there and even though I’ve heard positive things from other people that have played it, I can’t ignore the level of technical hiccups I saw in the demo. It could be that the demo was an old build and the main game will be fine, however I would not be shocked if a patch is released prior to release or very soon after release. Problems aside it promises to be entertaining for fans of Dark Souls that need a new action RPG to sink their teeth in to.

It excited us for some of the same reasons we love the Souls games, and equally so because of its differences beneath the surface, and could be one to watch whether you're a fan or a detractor of From Software's work.

Overall Lords Of The Fallen is shaping up to be a good Souls-style game, though I’m not sure there is enough to really differentiate it from that series. Then again I don’t know what else the game has in store past the demo stage. Though it does appear to play well and offers a challenge, the issue with the camera has to be addressed before launch, otherwise it really will detract from what could be a good game. If you’ve got an itch for another tough challenge, then keep an eye on Lords Of The Fallen.

Sunday - October 05, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - UK Tour Dates Announced

If you live in the UK then the following news-but is for you as Square Enix announces Lords of The Fallen will be going on the road in a UK tour before it's release.

Go hands-on before launch with the Lords of the Fallen UK Tour

Square Enix is pleased to announce Lords of The Fallen will be embarking on a UK tour prior to release on October 31st.

Beginning Monday 6th October in Newcastle, gamers across the country will be able to go hands-on, sampling the epic, challenging combat and rewarding gameplay. Experts will be on hand to guide you through the demo, and advise you on the best tactics, armour, weapons and strategies that make Lords of The Fallen one of the biggest action RPGs of 2014.

The hands-on areas of each venue will welcome fans with a drink at 7.30pm, and close at 10pm, giving you plenty of time with one of the hottest new IPs this year.

In Lords of the Fallen, you are Harkyn, the best of the worst of humanity. A convicted criminal, Harkyn is given a chance for redemption. But just as the rulers of the world get close to finding a way to banish all evil from humans, an army of the long-ago defeated god attacks the human realm. Released from prison, Harkyn and his mentor, Kaslo, set out on a mission to stop the war.

In his journey, Harkyn will forge strong alliances and face even stronger enemies. He will learn the true power of the Rhogar Lords - commanders of god's army. He will even bring the battle to the Rhogar, travelling to the heart of the demonic dimension.

Will the god manage to enslave humans again? Is mankind really able to banish evil? Will Harkyn's sins ever be forgiven?

Lords of the Fallen releases at retail for Xbox one and PlayStation 4 on October 31st at £49.99 and on PC for £29.99

Gop discussed the differences between the two versions in a new gameplay walkthrough, explaining that the two games were "pretty much similar," but "probably the resolution [on Xbox One] is like 900p instead of 1080p on PlayStation 4. But apart from that there's nothing different I would say."

Polygon - "How Lords of the Fallen won over this skeptical Dark Souls fan"

Of course, Lords of the Fallen is not actually a Souls game, and the more I've played of it, the more I understand how it differentiates itself. At a certain point, I realized how openly I'd been speaking about it in comparison to Dark Souls, and I apologized. Gop doesn't mind the comparison, though. He's open about the inspiration, and he believes there's room for more games like this in the world.

"There aren't a ton of Souls clones," Gop said. "We're not going to be one of dozens. And we're not trying to top Dark Souls. It would be stupid to say that we can do what they do better. But we have our own take on it."

With combat that requires you to be tactical, strategic, and careful, the upcoming third-person fantasy action game Lords Of The Fallen — which Namco Bandai will release October 28th on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC — might seem like yet another Dark Souls wannabe. But in talking to executive producer Tomasz Gop from CI Games while trying my best to play it, it became clear that Lords Of The Fallen is trying to do something different…but not a lot different.

In this Let's Play of Lords of the Fallen, executive producer Tomasz Gop walks us through some brand new gameplay about 40% into the game with a new boss battle. This was captured from the PS4 version of the game in 1080p. Enjoy

Brand new boss battle gameplay from chunky next-gen action role-playing game Lords of the Fallen. Eurogamer writer Bertie plays the game with Lords of the Fallen executive producer Tomasz Gop, who helps him through.

Friday - September 05, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Free Upgrade Offered

by Couchpotato, 04:41

Playstationing has news that Square Enix is offering gamers who pre-ordered the standard edition of Lords of the Fallen to get a free upgrade to the limited edition.

Square Enix are offering gamers who pre-order the standard edition of Lords of the Fallen a free upgrade to the limited edition. The limited edition contains the Monk’s Decipher DLC; offering more single player action, the demonic weapons pack DLC and the soundtrack. The demonic weapons include the Margyr daggers, the Thehk hammer, and the Ihir sword.

In an unforgiving world where no sin is ever forgotten, Harkyn, a convicted criminal, is given a chance for redemption. Just when rulers of the world get close to finding a way to banish all evil from humans, an army of the long-ago defeated god attacks the human realm. Will the god manage to enslave humans again? Is mankind really able to banish evil? Will Harkyn’s sins ever be forgiven?

Lords of the Fallen will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC on October 28th, 2014.

Lords of the Fallen - Hands-On @ Dual Pixels

Jose: The preview build’s difficulty seemed very high, but it made the experience even better because the difficulty didn’t come from the fact that the enemies were health sponges but you had to strategize how you would approach every encounter. It seemed like the game was asking you: “hey you want to be a show off, well lets see you show off dodging skills.”

Eliot: In the demo I played I only encountered two different types of enemies, a scrawny member of the undead and a larger miniboss. As I mentioned, I was stuck in pretty tight confines throughout the demo, so strategy was reduced to dodging backwards in between the enemy’s swings. There was some relief from the linearity when I entered a courtyard and met that gnarly looking miniboss only to see him plunge through a wooden grating covering a bottomless well.

Saturday - August 30, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - New Interview & OST

GamerHubTV had the chance to interview Bandai Namco at the San Diego Comic Con. Now I know it's been over a month, but the is seems the video was posted yesterday.

CI Games details the new hardcore hack and slash RPG, Lords of the Fallen, in this exclusive interview from the Bandai Namco booth at San Diego Comic Con.

And that's not all as CI Games released the main theme song for Lords of the Fallen.

Main Theme from the epic soundtrack for Lords of the Fallen: the Evolution of Action RPG coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on October 28th/31st. Soundtrack by Knut Avenstroup Haugen: http://knutavenstrouphaugen.com/

JK: The gameplay is, there’s a lot of corridors, the main area is a monastery, so you’re kind of in doors. The gameplay is very focused on one on one encounters. You’re not going to come across 100 enemies; however, every enemy is a danger, and you have to calculate, ‘how am I going to attack this? Should I be blocking or should I just go right for it? What kind of weapon am I using? Do I use my magic? The gameplay is very, I don’t want to say slow, but there is a strategic level to it.

Ex: Earlier you said there was a customization aspect to the game?

JK: Yes. So you could pick one of the classes at the beginning. You’ll be able to level up and get new stats and spells throughout the game, and you’ll be able to pick up new weapons, new armor, and kind of customize your guy and decide how you want to play, whether you want to be quick, whether you want to be magic focused, or whether you want heavy armor and a big two-handed weapon, that’s completely up to the player.

Ex: Is there a linear storyline, or depending on the class you choose, it kind of takes you on a separate route?

JK: The storyline is pretty focused, it’s pretty straight forward. As an RPG lover myself, one things I love about the genre, is that if you want I play the same game, we might pick different classes, different armor, different weapons, and we’d have a different experience. We would finish the game and have completely different looking characters. And so, I think that adds a layer of replayability. If I finish with a Cleric, I might want to go back and see how the Warrior feels.

Wednesday - August 20, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Dark Souls Fans

by Couchpotato, 05:58

Lords of the Fallen is heavily inspired by Dark Souls, and some may even say it's a clone. Well Games Radar has a new article about why Dark Soul fans should embrace it.

It’s easy to get upset when you perceive something as ‘ripping off’ a thing that you love. Offended or angry, even. People get really attached to the stuff they like. They integrate it into their identity, and form a degree of their self-perception around it. Thus, if it feels like something is copying that stuff, then it also feels like that something is encroaching upon one’s personal being. Even threatening to take something away by diluting the specialness of the original thing.

All of which psycho-rambling leads me on to Lords of the Fallen, the upcoming action-RPG from CI Games and Square-Enix. As you might already be aware, Lords is very much, very openly inspired by--amongst other games--Dark Souls. As a long-time Souls fan myself, I initially felt a slight knee-jerk. I’d put over 100 hours into the first game, so naturally I was a little protective of it. But then I played Lords of the Fallen, and stopped worrying.

Sunday - August 17, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Gameplay Trailer

Lords of the Fallen is a challenging Action RPG set in a medieval fantasy world ruled by a Fallen God. Fight against the formidable Lords and Generals that command a demonic army, Lords of the Fallen rewards skill and persistence among dedicated Action RPG fans.

The combat system consists of many complex skills that join both weapon mastery and supernatural abilities combined with large number of weapons, armors and upgrades. Large variety of items and gear can be found throughout re-exploration and investigating game’s deep and intriguing secret areas.

Tuesday - August 05, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - New Preview & Trailer

Lords of the Fallen is an interesting proposition, but the comparisons with Dark Souls are more to do with the lack of other games in this bastard-hard, dungeon-crawling, action-RPG genre. No-one else has dared step up to the plate. But this is how evolution in a genre happens, and Lords of the Fallen is looking like it might have what it takes to become a decent game in its own right rather than forever dwelling in Dark Souls' large shadow, though it's impossible to tell on the strength of this short demo.

Wednesday - July 30, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Strategy Informer

Strategy Informer has posted a new preview of Lords of the Fallen. They talk about a few problems with the game, but are optimistic we will enjoy it on release.

First the beginning where they compare the game to Dark Souls.

Let's get this out of the way now. Lords of the Fallen takes a whole bunch of stuff from Dark Souls. Tactical twitch combat with loads of weapons? Check. Vicious boss battles and unforgiving enemies? Check. Sprawling fantasy world complete with a tale of struggling gods and mortals? Yes and yes. The first time you sit down with CI Games' action RPG it's impossible not to notice this if you've spent the briefest amount of time with From Software's games – even the control scheme is almost identical. I'll be comparing Lords of the Fallen to Dark Souls repeatedly in this article simply because the similarities are too blatant not to mention.

Then we have the conclusion of the article with the sites verdict.

Hopefully those graphical issues will be fixed by the time the game comes out on October 31 (October 28 in North America). If they are I can see Lords of the Fallen providing a decent alternative to fans of brutal action RPG's. While it essentially copy-pastes entire mechanics from a more ambitious game, it does at least succeed in creating its own rich, over-the-top high-fantasy atmosphere. There's also a few alterations here and there that should also win over some fans left frustrated by Dark Souls' impenetrability. Could be a fun, if unoriginal, ride.

Saturday - July 26, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Day One Edition Announced

Square Enix & CI Games announced from Comic-Com the new One Edition of Lords of the Fallen. Basically it's exclusive DLC offered to those who pre-order the game.

Lords of the Fallen Day One Edition announced as Harkyn invades San Diego Comic-Con with new assets

Square Enix, in association with CI Games is pleased to announce the Day One Edition of Lords of the Fallen, a challenging next-gen Action-RPG due for release on 31st October 2014.

Gamers who pre-order are guaranteed the Day One Edition, and will gain access to exclusive story DLC, additional weapons and the official soundtrack to accompany Lords of The Fallen while stocks last.

The Monk’s Decipher DLC offers more single player action, uncovering hidden secrets throughout the three worlds Harkyn explores in Lords of the Fallen, while the Demonic Weapons pack includes three devastating new weapons.

Lords of the Fallen will be available on Xbox One®, the all-in-one entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, and PC on 31st October.

Friday - July 18, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Mercury News

by Couchpotato, 04:54

Mercury News has posted a new preview for Lords of the Fallen, ansd writes the game may satisfy your Dark Souls appetite. Read on to find out why.

Getting into the nitty gritty of things, the combat itself does seem to have a different feel from From Software’s most recent title. Lords of the Fallen battle system plays looser than Dark Souls version. Circling doesn’t feel as tight especially when you’re trying to bait out an adversaries attack.

When it comes to Harkyn, the protagonist has the ability to switch classes based on the gear he dons. Players can switch out through the menu or use a D-pad to switch weapons. He can pull out a staff to toss out magic. He can pull out daggers for quick rogue attacks. Despite the range of abilities, the combat still maintains the intensity where every encounter matters and players who aren’t careful can die easily.

One of the unusual parts about Harkyn’s classes is that the rogue, warrior and cleric each have a certain spell tied to each gear. In the warrior’s case, its spells are very powerful mitigates and can wipe out strong enemies, but Lords of the Fallen balances this out by making the use of such spells spare. It takes a long time to build Harkyn’s mana back up, so players can’t constantly pull off that type of magic like a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. The rogue class has its own magic that’s weaker. The same goes for the cleric. But what’s great is that Lords of the Fallen gives players the opportunity to experiment and try it out.

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @ Gamereactor

During the interview we discussed how the game is progressing, as well as the roadmap ahead. We also talked about the variety of different weapons that'll be appearing in the game, but before that, Gop explained to us a little bit about the lore behind the game, its mission structure and how the whole thing fits together.

"It's not only [a] dungeon-based game," the executive producer told us. "Generally we try to mix things up, so you're feeling that sometimes the world opens up, sometimes it narrows down a little bit. What is important it's never like any areas are closed for you. When you find a new area, when you open it up, the whole world gets bigger. You can always get back to the areas where you were before. So it's a mixture. And, like, via the means of the progression of the main story we try to give the players feeling that it's dynamic, you know, the scale of the events changes so you feel that it's not dull, it's not linear."

"There's one main quest that whenever you want you'll be able to track it, you'll know what is going on," he continued. "If you want to make up how to follow the main quest you will be able to do it, the game will tell you how to do this. But all the side-quests, all the optional exploration content, all the collectibles, all the interesting bits and pieces of the lore; these are the ones that will not be shoved down your throat, like put in front of you clearly. If you want to find them you will have means to do so, but these will not be written with a huge font on a huge sheet of paper, you will have to follow that to find these. The main storyline is a different story."

Thursday - July 10, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Release Date Announced

Square Enix & CI Games announced the release date for Lords of the Fallen in a new press release. Here are the details for those interested in the game.

Lords of the Fallen launches October 31st

London, UK – 9 th July, 2014: Square Enix is pleased to announce Lords of the Fallen, CI Games’ next-generation action/role-playing game will hit retail on October 31 st for the Xbox One® all-in-one games and entertainment system, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and PC

In Lords of the Fallen, you are Harkyn, the best of the worst of humanity. A convicted criminal, Harkyn is given a chance for redemption. But just as the rulers of the world get close to finding a way to banish all evil from humans, an army of the long-ago defeated god attacks the human realm. Released from prison, Harkyn and his mentor, Kaslo, set out on a mission to stop the war.

In his journey, Harkyn will forge strong alliances and face even stronger enemies. He will learn the true power of the Rhogar Lords - commanders of god's army. He will even bring the battle to the Rhogar, travelling to the heart of the demonic dimension.

Will the god manage to enslave humans again? Is mankind really able to banish evil? Will Harkyn's sins ever be forgiven?

Lords of the Fallen releases at retail for Xbox one and PlayStation 4 on October 31 st at £49.99 and on PC for £29.99

Wednesday - July 09, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Total XBOX

There's a sound I'll never tire of, and that's the satisfying crunch of an enemy's weapon hitting my shield as I hide behind it, waiting for the right moment to strike a well-timed riposte of my own. Is that a touch sadistic to admit? Probably, but I'll still never tire of it and you can't make me.

It's always said that games necessitating that sort of back and forth feedback in combat require a good deal of patience, but I don't think that's quite true. Patience is a virtue I lack - but stubbornness? Not so much. It's that stubborn streak that always carries me through, even when I'm multiple deaths in and success seems a very distant, unlikely notion. That's usually when the swearing starts.

So I found myself recently with a controller in hand and at the mercy of a Lords of the Fallen demo. Here are seven things I learned after the dust had settled, my shield had taken a thorough beating, and the nearby swear jar was a good deal heavier.

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @ Connected Digital World

Saturday - June 21, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Hardcore Gamer

by Couchpotato, 05:07

Hardcore Gamer also released a new preview this week for the ARPG Lords of the Fallen.

After playing Lords of the Fallen there is no doubt in my mind that this game is attempting to fill that gap. Lords of the Fallen is almost exactly like From Software’s games, but it is currently missing the nuances that make Dark Souls so good. The level design in Dark Souls is meticulously crafted so that every death feels like it was your fault. Lords of the Fallen is missing that, and needs that if it is too be more than just a Dark Souls alternative.

Friday - June 20, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @ Wired

Wired.co.uk: Contrasts against Dark Souls aside, in your own words, what is Lords of the Fallen?

Jan Klose:Lords of the Fallen is a tactical strategy RPG. It's a medieval fantasy game with combat in a slasher kind of way, both one-on-one and one-on-two combat, as well as some spectacular boss fights. The idea is that you can learn from it, get better and learn your own fighting style.

Do you think the Dark Souls comparisons are fair?

Well, this is a genre with so many games in it right now. Action RPGs aren't new, but Dark Souls really excelled at delivering a perfect action RPG experience -- but also a very tough one! Many players threw their controller out of the window. We've done action RPGs in the past and our publisher had the same idea [about difficulty]. We looked at the market right now, where there's not only Dark Souls but games like Darksiders, which is interesting in a different way. You might see some elements of Zelda but also Tekken or Street Fighter in our duel combats. It's not bad to be compared to one of the best games in the genre. But it's not a copy and we want to stand out.

Lords of the Fallen - E3 Preview Roundup

While it's hard to separate Lords of the Fallen from the game that so obviously influenced it, CI Games is promising a much more robust story than Dark Souls ever offered. One thing is obvious- it's a really beautiful and polished experience, exactly how you'd want a next-gen title to look.

Dark Souls is simply inescapable when playing Lords of the Fallen. The combat here is swifter thanks to its weapons, but simultaneously slower since there's no devoted dodge. Even with those differences, it still feels as intentional as Souls'. And just like in that game, you regain lost experience when you return to a spot where you were killed last. Fallen distinguished itself at E3 2013, but in 2014 it simply can't get out from under Souls until it's actually out in the wild or playable in a more substantial setting.

I’m trying not to compare it so much to Dark Souls and instead view at it as its own separate game, but the similarities are all there and rampant. In that case, the experience is just not quite as satisfying at the moment, but it still offers more than your average clone. Fans of the Souls series who may want to take a break from the incessant and punishing difficulty may want to give Lords of the Fallen a try when it releases sometime later this year.

The team at Deck 13 have built a well-executed Souls clone. It's not a new idea, but they've provided their own spin on it. While other developers say they're inspired by the Souls series, Lords of the Fallen is probably the closest I've seen a developer get to From Software's cult classics. Relying on a single developer means fans have to wait between releases, but if more Soulslikes appear, the months waiting for the king to return won't seem as bad. It's about expanding the genre outwards so fans aren't straved for something to play; if there can be tons of third-person open-world games and roguelikes, why not Soulslikes? So if Bloodborne is high on your E3 radar, spend some time looking at Lords of the Fallen; you might just find your next game

Lords of the Fallen feels just new and different enough to be fresh. The unforgiving action RPG is a genre that I can’t seem to get enough of, and Lords of the Fallen has already left me wanting more. I’m interested to see what a more story-involved approach does for the game.

Lords of the Fallen - Wish List @ AMH Network

Lords of the Fallen is the lastest game from the little known development team CI Games in collaboration with the equally unknown Deck 13. Despite being inexperienced teams however, Lords of the Fallen is built upon rock solid roots, with Tomasz Gop, executive producer of The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassin’s of Kings at the helm. Lords of the Fallen is designed as an Action RPG, which means the game is expected to boast rich, immersive combat, with skill trees that add a much greater layer of depth. Influences of The Legend of Zelda, and Dark/Demons Souls will instantly ring out at the players/viewers but Lords of the Fallen still aims to forge its own path. With 2015 seeming like a realistic year of release, we discuss the five things that we want from the little known action game that deserves a lot of your attention.

Saturday - May 31, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Eurogamer

by Couchpotato, 07:32

Eurogamer has a new preview for Lords of the Fallen with some quotes from executive producer Thomasz Gop. To sum it up don't call the game Dark Souls.

"Do me a favour," a Polish journalist tells me, "don't ask him about Dark Souls." I laugh - we laugh - because I know what he's getting at. But I'm going to do it anyway, because there's no denying it: Lords of the Fallen is like Dark Souls - a next-gen Dark Souls, to say it right.

Developed by CI Games and Deck 13, this is the PC, PS4 and Xbox One action role-playing game where one hero takes on singularly powerful enemies, and bosses, in over-the-shoulder combat. Feet shuffle, hands are watched and attack patterns scrutinised. Get your timing wrong and you're dead, and quickly - and the experience you've earned falls with you, lingering by your corpse awaiting your return. Sound familiar?

"I'm over it," replies executive producer Thomasz Gop when I bring it up. "A year ago that would have been insufferable, but now I don't care. We're so far into the development of Lords that I can already sleep soundly." What he means is that after nearly three years, he's confident Lords can stand on its own two feet, and that people will see more than a clone. If being compared to Dark Souls was ever a bad thing, he says, "it's not a bad thing any more".

Wednesday - May 21, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Video Interview

by Couchpotato, 00:17

PlayStation Access has a new video interview for with Executive Producer Tomasz Gop to talk about about his Action-RPG game Lords of the Fallen.

Nath chats with Lords of the Fallen Executive Producer Tomasz Gop about the upcoming action RPG. Can we expect an open world? What are the customisation options and combat like? And why is the hero such a battle-scarred grump? Check it out right now, and find out if it bears comparison to the mighty Dark Souls

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @ Examiner

Because of the amount of time that has passed since we last heard anything about CI Games' upcoming title we felt it appropriate to give Gop a chance to comment on what has changed since last summer.

He starts off rather simply, "I think what we were showing at E3 was primarily the basic construct of what we want this game to be. And it was the first ever presentation so of course we didn't want to overburden people with information because they don’t remember anything."

Gop continues, "Today we already know what are going to be the proportions in between these features. For example, magic and melee combat, things like this, storyline - how prominent it is throughout the game. How we’re trying to make sure that people can experiment and create the entry threshold in terms of difficulty and the learning curve, accessible to everybody."

And while it's important that everyone be able to pick up and play Lords of the Fallen, Gop knows his target audience is perfectly find with its challenging nature.

"I still think this game is going to be challenging all-in-all, and to finish it you will have to learn certain things. At least. . .to get the sense of the variety of tactics you have, so once you find a boss that you can’t defeat with a great axe, for example, you already know that you can try different things. But at the same time I think it’s going to be relatively easy to get into because you’re getting a lot of variety of gear at the very beginning and you can already try to learn [from that point on] so you have more time to learn things that you will need [later in the game.

Lords of the Fallen - Balancing Plot & Gameplay

Lords of the Fallendeveloper Deck13 Interactive finds itself in the former camp. At a recent preview event we asked executive producer Tomasz Gop how his team strikes a balance between too overbearing of a plot versus not having enough substance. According to him, there's a general rule that experienced developers follow, however, to a certain extent it does depend on what type of product the company is planning on delivering.

Don't compare Gop's title with From Software's unforgiving battle for life however, while Gop admits that there are specific similarities, it's not like his studio was attempting to emulate their success.

"There is a general rule that you have to apply. . .and that’s whenever you have a problem of what to choose and only one of these things can make it: always go for the gameplay," states Gop adamantly.

"We’re that kind of game, so for example, with a sheet of paper we’re trying to plan whether we can have one more type of spell per class (which is extremely important), it adds a lot to the variety, because [in Lords of the Fallen] we don’t have 50 spells per class, we only have four or five, and we say, 'Okay, let’s add an extra one.' That means that maybe some elements of the story may have to be taken out because we already see on the sheet of paper and we always know what the decision should be.

Like we previously stated though, it largely depends on the situation.

"That’s how you pretty much do it," specifies Gop, "but you have to be flexible and that’s [on a] per case basis, there’s no [one solid rule.]"

Sunday - May 04, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Strategy Informer

by Couchpotato, 09:07

Strategy Informer posted a new preview of the Deck 13's action RPG Lords of the Fallen based on some hands-on game time from a short demo.

Perhaps Lords of the Fallen doesn't have originality on its side then, but judging from the demo session I watched, you'd be foolish to dismiss its beautiful, brutal charms too quickly. It's taking inspiration from the finest sources. There's clearly been a tonne of effort put into the world-building and art design, resulting in a lovely looking game with a very distinct atmosphere. Combat looks like lots of fun, and there's plenty of gribbly enemies to vanquish. It's set for release later in 2014, and if there's room in your life for one more challenging action RPG with a rich world to explore, Lords of the Fallen could be just the ticket.

Thursday - May 01, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Character Customization

In a recent entry on the Playstation Blog, creative director Tomasz Gop took to the comments section to answer a few burning questions by readers.

One of the questions a user asked was in relation to character customization. In the game, Harkyn is the sole main character whose personal appearance will not be able to be changed. The way you customize him as a warrior however is up to you. Gop explains that, “The name, face, body and gender of our main character is set. We had to make a decision here because of storyline, and credibility – we want to make it believable that Harkyn could actually wield all these weapons, wear all this armor, use that powerful magic, etc. It really had to be him.”

In regards to how many weapons and pieces of armor in the game there will be, the Twitter account for Lords of the Fallen simply says there will be “a lot”. As you could see in the most recent gameplay trailer for the game that was released, there was plenty of variability in the character’s look and loadout so I wouldn’t be too worried about customization.

Like Dark Souls, you'll leave a ghost when you die that contains your experience. You can also store experience points you don't want to use yet at save points. Your soul will slowly leak experience as you make your way back to it, though, which could add to the loss even if you're banking regularly.

Lords of the Fallen is showing a lot of promise. It’s borrowing all of the right elements from the Souls series, while infusing them with its own unique touch of arcade-style fun. Be on the lookout for Lords of the Fallen on PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime later this year.

Luckily, at Bandai Namco’s Gamers Day event two weeks ago, I met Tomasz Gop, who introduced me to what will surely be my next guilty pleasure—Lords of the Fallen, a new, next-gen IP from CI Games that takes the most basic elements from games like Darksiders and Dark Souls II, and boils them down to an accessible, rewarding formula. Actually, I would describe it as “the weapons of Darksiders in the world of Dark Souls”.

Wednesday - April 23, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - New Trailer & Previews

by Couchpotato, 04:54

Namco Bandai Games has released a new trailer for Lords of the Fallen.

The Champion Lord has always been a bit different from other commanders of the Fallen God's demonic army. For them, it was all about honor and discipline. For the Champion it was all about the intensity of a duel and the bloodthirsty satisfaction from defeating an opponent. Where other Lords would respectfully circle around their opponent, the easily enraged Champion will charge right into the fray with his pure brute force. He always likes to get his hands dirty, so his weapons of choice need to be close to his body, allowing him to smell the blood of his victims. Of course, at close range, his boiling bloodlust and reckless charges don't leave him much in terms of defense, but who would stand against a hulking brute like him? You?

I also managed to roundup a few more previews this week from various sites.

The emphasis on Harkin's story is but one feature that sends the game apart from the Souls series. Combat is much faster, rolling does not take away stamina, magical spells like decoys seem more effective, and the lighting has a starker contrast. That said, you can also bank XP at a save point just as you would souls and a New Game+ is currently on the developer's agenda. We'll just have to see whether Lords of the Fallen will be able to satisfy fans of both action gameplay styles.

All in all what was shown, what we were told, and what we could figure out on our own is just a snippet when it comes to a game of this magnitude. Scheduled for release sometime in 2014 (likely near the end of it) we’ll be certain to see a lot more information over the coming months.

The game will pit you against difficult decisions that will and can change the outcome of the game. You’ll be facing every boss no matter what, but these decisions can decide if the boss is easier and will contribute to which ending you receive. So yeah, story matters. This also leads me to believe that replayability will be high. I’m quite excited to get my hands on this game and look forward to the arcade-esque fighting elements in an RPG setting.

Monday - March 03, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Editorial @ Only SP

In response to a user’s question about whether or not Lords of the Fallen would be more similar to From Software’s Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls, the twitter handle responded that the game will share more similarities with Demon’s Souls than Dark Souls. This is more than likely pertaining to how Demon’s Souls world is crafted, with a central hub that allows you to access different locations, rather than Dark Soul’s more open ended approach to its world.

Friday - February 21, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ OnlySP

The official Twitter account for Lords of the Fallen has answered some questions about the game in regards to the game’s difficulty settings, semi-open world and release platforms.

One Twitter user asked about the game’s difficulty and how enemies would react to a raised difficulty level. The spokesperson running the Twitter account told the user that the difficulty would be scalable and wouldn’t only relate to the “stats” of the player. This means that the enemies in the world will adjust to your skill level to basically keep you from becoming bored and making things too easy. Tomasz Gop was nice enough to drop by and further explain that what they’re looking to do with Lords of the Fallen is change things up each time you meet an enemy, meaning new attack styles and such.

The Twitter account joked about the “”wow this game looks easy” comments”, saying they can’t wait for people to get their “hands on the game”. Deck13 seems to be quite confident the game will not be an easy completion for most.

Saturday - February 01, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Game Revolution

When I say Lords of the Fallen looks like Dark Souls, I mean it descriptively, not derisively. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all, and besides, the combat design of Dark Souls should be evangelized, spreading its influence like roots across the game industry. Of course, imitation is but a skip and a hop from outright plagiarism, and the developers for German studio Deck13 Interactive have had to field questions concerning this comparison multiple times, in part because Namco Bandai included it in its recent showcase. But rest assured that there are enough differences between Lords of the Fallen and Dark Souls to thwart any accusations of thievery.

Friday - January 31, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Venturebeat

Lords of the Fallen has far more in common with Dark Souls than it does God of War, with even low-level enemies requiring a more dedicated, strategic approach than just swinging away. Selecting the right class, weapon, and runes for each encounter is pivotal not only to Harkyn’s survival, but the amount of experience and upgrades you can acquire from each battle.

But whether it’s in Dark Souls class — or a step below — is something we’ll determine this fall.

Thursday - January 30, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ EDGE

Lords Of The Fallen is a single-minded proposition, a game that eschews anything that might distract from beautifully rendered fantasy characters knocking seven shades out of each other with broadswords. There’s still plenty of time between now and its release for technical demons to make themselves known, but as a taste of what a new generation of epic fantasy might look like, Lords Of The Fallen is a vivid prospect.

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @ VG 24/7

Lords of the Fallen is out this year and has been in co-development for over two years at CI Games and Deck 13. If there’s one thing Gop’s time on The Witcher franchise has taught him; it’s that carefully propositioning your players is the key to making a good first impression. There’s no advantage to dressing mutton as lamb, and that’s why we haven’t seen a gameplay trailer yet. Gop admitted he is stressing out a little about that first footage, as it has to perfectly explain what kind of game Lords is.

It’s not Dark Souls, it’s not The Witcher 2; it’s something that spans both games and more. That it can’t be so readily pigeon-holed in its entirety is surely a major plus-point for Gop and his team. “Technically,” he concluded, “in my opinion, this is a very different game to The Witcher, because it’s not an orthodox RPG, which I perceive The Witcher to be.

“It’s an action RPG. We have not released any gameplay trailers yet. There is one trailer that is out, but we’re working very hard to deliver the gameplay trailer soon. I don’t know when that’s going to be yet, but you can be sure that the kind of depicting and the picturing of the user experience in all the trailers that we’re going to do is going to be a bit more like an action movie, rather than telling the story, which is probably what CD Projekt is trying to do.”

“I don’t think you can stick similarities between the games, but the way that we work; the way that we message the game, and the way that you’re going to be ready to experience what you’re getting in the box the day that you buy it is important.”

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @ VG 24/7

The action-RPG is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One this autumn and takes place in a fantasy world where god himself has been imprisoned deep below the Earth; with only his arm sticking out of a vast mountain range, stuck there after one final attempt at escape. Without warning, his minions have sprung forth and are wreaking havoc on the land.

In this world, wrongdoers have marks of their misdeeds tattooed on their body as a reminder of their shame, and only Harken; the most tattooed wrongdoer in the land has the power to stop this threat. He’s not a nice person, to say the least. Gop conceded that Lords of the Fallen is a difficult game, and stressed, “It’s not a franchise,” so the game’s world and lore needs to be memorable, just as its combat must be fluid. First impressions – as they say – are everything.

On the Dark Souls comparisons, battles will prove tricky, with nine weapon pools to choose from spread across three classes. Melee is the heart of combat, and boasts a range of combos that must be mastered to fell demonic enemies with ease. Some attacks offer brief windows of invulnerability that must be used to increase your survival, as well as blocking and dodge rolls. Just like From Software’s series, attack patterns must be memorised and brutal foes must be slain against all seemingly impossible odds.

He explained, “Lords of the fallen is a game that is not a game about – and I don’t want to get this wrong because we do have storyline, we do have characters, NPCs and quest – but this is not a game where you would like to take out 100 hours of storyline and a thousand side-quests. This is a game about you crossing the gap, and the difference and distance between being a random noob at the beginning, and skilled pro player at the end. This crafting of your skill is what this is about, and I thought Dark Souls was exactly about the same thing.”

Wednesday - January 15, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Adroit Gamer

Lords of the Fallen has the potential to be a good action game, the screen shots and trailer look great and I’m always partial to a fantasy RPG. There’s nothing new to the spec, we have the tried and tested classes along with upgradable weapons and armour, reminding me of Kingdoms of Amalur which was, like Lords of the Fallen, based on it’s combat and big monsters. I’m interested to see some gameplay footage to further understand the combat mechanics but so far I’m excited for this game.

Sunday - January 12, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - New Screenshots

Two new screenshots for City Interactive’s upcoming fantasy action/role-playing game, Lords of the Fallen, have been unveiled. Lords of the Fallen is said to be a demanding and strategic third-person action-RPG experience that is being created for next generation consoles and PC. The game is scheduled for release later this year. Enjoy!

Friday - January 03, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Full Interview @ OnlySP

Lords of the Fallen, the upcoming RPG by Deck 13 and CI Games Studio, has gotten lots of people quite excited. Promising to deliver a hardcore gameplay experience in an RPG package, Lords of the Fallen has often been described as a European Dark Souls. We recently spoke to Lords of the Fallen’s Executive Producer Tomasz Gop about story, gameplay, tech, and how his experience with The Witcher has shaped Lords of the Fallen’s development. And, of course, we get his opinion on single player games.

Wednesday - January 01, 2014

Lords of the Fallen - Interview @ Only SP

According to Gop, on top of the traditional Cleric/Rogue/Fighter class trinity, Lords of the Fallen will follow a “three pillar” system for character class development – magic, gear, and stats. Magic is the only one of the three bound to class, with Clerics preferring HP regeneration, Rogues focusing on stealth and critical hits, and Fighters looking to buff defense. Once a class is chosen, then their potential magic choices are streamlined to their class.

More freely, any class can boost any stat with XP, but certain stats are more important to certain classes.

Gear, which represents armour, weapons, and shields, has natural affinities with certain classes, but can be used by any character, regardless of class. Most of the gear in Lords of the Fallen can be found through exploration, although it can also be crafted.

Monday - November 25, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ TheGameHeadz

by Couchpotato, 04:28

TheGameHeadz has posted a short preview of Lords of the Fallen talking about what the game is all about. So if you never heard about the game, or need a refresher read on.

For more than two years, developers at City Interactive and Deck 13 have worked to design a game that stands out from others within its genre. This RPG features a fantasy world filled with foes to defeat, spells to cast, and secrets to uncover. And while the game is still being developed, its E3 preview looks promising. In 2014, you can fall into an all-new adventure with Lords of the Fallen.

The main character in LotF is Harkyn, a societal outcast who—ironically—must save his society. When a fallen god named Roger escapes from imprisonment, it’s up to Harkyn to save the day. Players must fight against Roger’s generals, or lords. And to further complicate things, half the society is on the fallen god’s side. In LotF, developers want to make every person’s gameplay experience different. Players can choose from warrior, rogue, and cleric skill classes. They can also customize their character based on gameplay style.

LotF gameplay includes a combat system based on precision. In others words, players can’t simply throw mindless blows at an opponent—they really have to study their opponent’s moves. When and where they strike foes does matter. If you’re battling a tough boss, for example, observing when he must recover could be the key to victory. The strategy necessary to defend and attack in this game definitely keeps gameplay challenging—and rewarding. As you hone your fighting skills, you’ll be able to defeat foes more swiftly.

Developers want this game to be challenging, but not necessarily I-want-to-throw-my-controller-into-the-next-dimension challenging. That’s one reason they included options other than combat to help gamers along their journey. In certain situations you can flee from enemies or use sneak attacks. You can also use magic spells, which allow you to defeat an opponent with relative ease if you don’t want to engage in challenging combat. But be warned: magic or evasiveness cannot be the answer every time. To win this game, you’ll have to fight too.

Friday - September 13, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Joystiq

by Couchpotato, 01:10

Joystiq has a new preview of Lords of the Fallen writing the game wants to challenge players not mindlessly punish you.

It's become fashionable for developers to name-drop Dark Souls as emblematic of their own games' similar, tough-as-nails appeal, but this often lacks meaningful merit. Not so in Executive Producer Tomasz Gop's case. His Souls-drop, made when first announcing Lords of the Fallen, was absolutely visible when I saw the game in action. That's not to say it's a replica of the Souls games, something Gop is keen to stress, but I did recognize a familiar mano-a-mano challenge in its third-person RPG combat.

Tuesday - September 10, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Twinfinite

by Couchpotato, 00:05

Twinfinite has a new preview of Lords of the Fallen from Pax Prime 2013.Nothing we haven't read before, but you're interested in the game give it a look.

The Witcher 1 and 2 veteran makes no claims about Lords of the Fallen being trailblazing. It uses a number of tried-and-true elements, and you will see influences from games like The Witcher, Darksiders, Warhammer 40K, and especially Dark Souls. The style is informed by those prior 3 games, and the gameplay is informed by Dark Souls. However, this sort of gameplay was never exclusive to those titles, and City Interactive seems to be giving the game a unique style of its own.

Some 8000 years ago, legend has it that people rose up in defiance of an angry God, and were able to defeat him (at least temporarily). Now the followers of this God are returning, and it’s your job to defeat them (and one would guess, eventually the God himself). Although Gop says that story is not necessarily the emphasis of the game, rather than playing as a faceless champion, you play as Harken, a defiant, tattooed warrior. You will also have access to dialogue options when talking to NPCs, adding a bit of depth and personalization to the plot.

Sunday - September 08, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview Roundup #5

There's also room to explore a bit; the game isn't open-world, just large areas connected by a world map. Like Lords of Shadow, you can return to these areas at anytime and as you progress in the game, you may find new skills and items that will open new paths in earlier levels. In the demo, Gop used an alternate route to get behind a larger enemy and deliver a vicious backstab. He could've faced the foe head-on, but he was still in Rogue armor and the backstab evened the fight a bit. Again, Lords of the Fallen can be hard, but that's not its default state.

Lords of the Fallen is not a hack-and-slash action-RPG, according to executive producer Tomasz Gop, and attempts to button-mash your way through a fight will most likely meet with failure. Combat appears to be a methodical give and take of blows, blocks and dodges. In one boss fight we watched, Gop was cautious with his attacks, waiting for a Rhogar called the First Warden to strike with his curved greatsword, then attacking quickly while his foe was locked into his swing animation. Gop played defensively throughout, strategically keeping his distance from the First Warden and dodge-rolling out of harm's way when the demon attacked.

While the game does look to keep players on their toes, the developers did emphasize that they don't want players to become discouraged. This is where magical abilities were shown off. The character unleashed an astral ghost of himself into an opponent, knocking them off their feet and leaving them open to a combo of attacks. As the game is still in early stages of development, the magic abilities, while still impressive looking, were far from a finished produced. For the more hardcore fantasy players a crafting system was mentioned, but only briefly.

Tuesday - September 03, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - News Roundup

One the main ways Lords of the Fallen breaks away from action-RPG conventions is through its boss battles. This is done primarily by information conveyance, battle staging, and preparing the player for battle. For starters, any time there’s a boss battle, there are indicators in your surrounding environment (like a pile of corpses outside a door), conveying to the player that it may be time to re-equip and focus. It’s a small feature, but it makes a huge impact on the player’s experience.

As we wrapped up our demo, one thing we took away was the sheer complexity of medieval strategy games that’s found in Lords of the Fallen, from crafting to an interesting lore, to weapons and equipment, but Gop assured us that the complex nature of the game will not lead to grueling or punishing gameplay for the player.

Lords of the Fallen looked good at E3; it looks even better at PAX Prime. After another hands-off demo, the next-generation action role-playing game really seems to be coming along nicely. Admirably, it seeks to improve, or at least deviate, on the formula that a certain well-known and similar couple of titles nearly perfected.

Monday - August 26, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ GameSpot

by Couchpotato, 00:38

If your interested in knowing more about Lords of the Fallen GameSpot has a new preview for you.

Watching the demonstration for Lords of the Fallen, the upcoming, third-person action role-playing game from Deck13, I was struck with a sense of déjà vu. Here was a very deliberate, calculated game where every blow was decisive and deadly. I felt like I’d seen this before, in a game GameSpot’s own Tom Mc Shea will never stop talking about. However, after speaking with developers Jan Klose and Tomasz Gop, I learned that Deck13 is aiming to distinguish Lords from Souls in a few key ways.

"We want to make our combat really feel credible and make you feel like you’re in control of every action and see the consequences," said Klose. "Dark Souls didn’t invent this style of game--but it did execute on that style in a really brilliant way. This is something more games should be doing, instead of just [hacking-and-slashing]." Devil May Cry, this is not.

Wednesday - August 21, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - New Cinematic Trailer

LORDS of the FALLEN is an action-RPG featuring advanced combat systems and robust class skill trees. Set in a richly created fantasy world where the Gods have failed mankind, players will take on the role of a human named Harkyn who sets out on a quest to stand against an apparently unstoppable supernatural force. Players travel across a world that is deeply divided by those who follow, and others who resist, the Fallen God. Along their journey they will be faced with a series of decisions that will alter both their gameplay experience and their character.

Friday - August 16, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Video Interview @ GameReactor

by Couchpotato, 01:16

GameReactor has a video interview of Lords of the Fallen. Below is some text from the video.

During the interview Gop explained why the word 'action' is being used in conjunction with RPG when it comes to describing Lords of the Fallen: "You craft your own skill, that's the basic of the game," he explained. "That's at least the way I perceive adding ‘action' in front of an RPG. There is a story, there is a hero, there are quests, you drive through that. But action means that the biggest part of the game is combat, you have to craft the skill."

"As somebody once said there is a large difference between games that allow you to finish them without learning the basics of their system, and games like Lords of the Fallen, where you have to do your homework to finish the game. That's why action RPG means let's get some action, let's learn the moves, and let's capitalise on that."

Thursday - August 01, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ GamesRadar

The devs looked at other RPGs when developing Lords of the Fallen, too, in hopes of trying to make sure the grinding wouldn’t be too… well, grinding. Moonstone (1991), Vagrant Story (2000), and Severance: Blade of Darkness (2001) were all cited, but it also sourced a game that many might not immediately think of when discussing the genre.

"Did you ever wonder why lots of people considered Infinity Blade a breakthrough gameplay experience on mobile devices?" Gop asked. "My guess is, it was the best to date grinding-focused fantasy mobile game."

The power moves are inspired by Final Fantasy VII and Deus Ex

Besides being able to dodge, parry, and attack your foes, Lords of the Fallen will also include powerful abilities you can build up over time. Gop referenced several examples of games that have done this in the past, giving some insight into what the strongest abilities in the game will be like. "Then think of games that focus on duel experience, like fighting games. Then add to that what we call the 'smart-bomb' kind of skills that you have to manage, like limit breaks from Final Fantasy VII, action skills from Borderlands, and some powerful abilities from Deus Ex series. That’s the kind of mixture we’re brewing here…"

Sunday - July 21, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ TheGameHeadz

by Couchpotato, 01:03

TheGameHeadz has a short prevew of Lords of the Fallen. It's the same info given as the other previews so I leave to you to read or not read.

The similarities between Lords Of The Fallen and Dark Souls are screaming out for everyone to see, but what needs to be focussed on is the differences. Having a character that's a completely blank slate is one of the things I've always wanted to try out in a game. Often you'll start a game by choosing a set of certain perks that define your game play for the duration of the title, but with Lords Of The Fallen you miss out that step. Being able to forge a character solely from your actions is quite revolutionary, as even games such as Skyrim start you off with Race Perks that define how you play for the rest of the four hundred hours.

It's going to be difficult for Lords Of The Fallen to make a noise in the next generation of consoles, as Dark Souls 2 is already absorbing everyone's attention. Hopefully the differences in mechanics and the subtlety of the openness of this game will draw players in, showing them that they've actually found a real monster of a title where the least expected it. Initially Demon's Souls, the spiritual precursor to Dark Souls, wasn't a huge hit, it took a long time for people to appreciate what the game was about, making you think tactically and carefully. The combination of this aspect and the added freedom in Lords Of the Fallen should make it a fantastic game to look out for.

Saturday - June 29, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview Roundup #4

Combat is most interesting. Hack & slash fans will have some re-learning to do as the combat here is based on enemy pattern recognition and knowing when to counter. There’s some resemblance to a fighting game in how a bit of strategy is required to dodge or block and then identify when to strike. Some enemies are quick, others are slow and strong, and boss characters are enormous. To help with the combat, each character class has a special skill that can be activated. The Rogue class, which was shown in the demo, has the Shadow ability. This ability stops time and allows the character to circle around the enemy and attack from behind. The combat has its own brutal (and satisfying) finishing moves, too.

The game world will be expansive and connected. There are secrets galore for players who want to take the time to explore the world, including audio tablets that share lore about the world and the characters in it, extra weapons and armor, and even full equipment caches to alter classes when desired. There are also multiple paths to reach certain objectives, which can allow players to skip potentially fatal areas with roads a bit less dangerous.

The key to this game, according to its creators, was to have a duel-based system, where you actually have to think about every fight, looking at your opponent's moves and figuring out counter-moves. The way it plays out, it's almost like a combination of button-mashing battles and turn-based RPG combat - though real-time, you have to calculate when and how to strike, with several of your foes - who look a lot like McFarlane Toys' Dark Ages Spawn - boasting one-kill hits in their arsenals.

Levels are also laden with secrets, many of which are unlocked by returning to prior levels after progressing further in the game and gaining knowledge as to what to do in the previous settings. Though there is a linear story, some of these secrets involve finding ways to take on bosses in a different order, or side-step others completely.

Taking a page from The Witcher and Dark Souls, the combat moves away from mindless button-mashing and peppers combat with hints of strategy. In the demo, we were shown several examples of how button-mashing with even the simplest of enemies gets you killed, so your best resource is to figure out a tell or be adept at dodging. The same goes for trying to separate packs of enemies. Again, this is something we've seen done before, but it's good to see the fluidity with which the combat occurs.

As far as graphics are concerned, there's plenty of next-generation flourish here. The character textures are highly detailed, especially the protagonist's facial tattoos, which are visible during in-game cut scenes. The environments also display this high level of texture without harming the frame rate. Like most of the next-generation offerings seen thus far, there's an emphasis on particle effects, and this game has them in abundance. The boss fight with the lava knight saw sparks as his sword hit the ground and a flurry of them followed his sword during the final stages of the battle. Even the introduction to the player is accompanied by swirls of smoke and particles that look like it came straight from an Nvidia PhysX demo reel. The fight included the natural shedding of his armor as it progressed. What made it more impressive was that this was all done with the company's in-house engine, showing that there's still room for custom-built engines in an era where such things are tackled by specialized development houses.

There's still a ways to go before Lords of the Fallen hits its wide-open 2014 release date, and there are lots of things for them to do, including figuring out which next-generation platforms they'll be hitting. What they're showing off, while not exactly revolutionary, is very impressive and shows lots of promise in how all of the gameplay mechanics are coming together.

Friday - June 21, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Preview Roundup #3

Lords of the Fallen proved itself to be a true definition of what it will take to be a next generation ARPG. To look at gaming as of now we see a modern community with lack in original ideas. We have been sucked into a whole of ‘every games the same’ or ‘there is so much cut scene that I’m hardly even playing’ but Lords of the Fallen has established that next-gen isn’t about that. To this company next-gen is about taking an experience that we love, gaming, and making that experience better for the player while remaining a game; there is not much more we can ask for. A note to the wonderful team who continue to work hard on Lords of the Fallen: thank you for remembering your audience and appealing to us in an improved way that we would have never imagined possible.

The enemies and bosses in Lords of the Fallen appear to have a set pattern of attacks which they’ll move through until they hit another phase, at which point the pattern will change – so it’s fairly traditional in that sense. Once the player learns these patterns they should be able to hit the enemy without much of a problem, but that’s when there’s only one, however, and there’s very often more than one. The bosses of the game (or at least the ones at CI Games were willing to talk about) comprise of the Lords of the Fallen, the lieutenants of the fallen God. These can be seen coming from their realms into our own through a particle effect-heavy entrance which the player will see long before the Lord actually spawns in their world. This is the origin of the tag-line for Lords of the Fallen “I see you through the fire” and is something that appears to be a running theme throughout both the story of the game and promotion of it.

Lords of the Fallen looks amazing, with the newly created (and proprietary) Fledge Engine pumping out particle effects and true next-gen visuals at every turn. The combat-heavy gameplay mechanics will appeal to players of more modern fantasy-RPGs while the storyline that runs through it appears to be something that more classical players will be able to grab onto. As this next console generation gets into full swing, there will be a lot of big players making a grab for your attention with lots of explosions and fire, but Lords of the Fallen is coming, and it looks very impressive indeed.

I’ll give Lords of the Fallen one thing—it’s pretty. The visuals on display during my hands-off demo were nothing short of astounding, with lighting, particle, and weather effects that were well beyond anything I’ve seen on current-gen consoles or my (now horrendously outdated) PC rig.

The trouble is, nothing about the rest of the presentation really stood out to me. The character designs and locations were fairly run-of-the-mill, uninspired fantasy tropes I’ve seen dozens of times before, and the combat, while certainly punishing in terms of damage dealt and received, didn’t seem all that technical. Encounters seemed to revolve around a whole lot of running around to the imaginary tune of Yakety Sax, waiting for a huge gap in the enemies’ attack animations, then running in for a quick slice, with a dodge or two thrown in for good measure. I was hoping for some sort of parry system or any sign of greater depth, but it wasn’t present. Keep in mind, I’m not saying it won’t be present in the final game—it just wasn’t something that was on display here, and that was a huge disappointment for a game that clearly wants to capitalize on the hype of the Souls titles.

The one thing that might actually salvage Lords of the Fallen for me is the class system, which isn’t nearly as rigid as in some other RPGs. While there are three different classes with their own special abilities, that power is tied to the weapon you’re currently wielding, allowing you to mix up your strategy on the fly without having to waste too much time on a respec. I’m always the guy who tries to play a jack of all trades, and if Lords gives me an outlet for that—and offers more combat depth that my small taste implied—I might actually give it a shot. For now, though, I’ll be hard pressed to remember anything about it a week from now.

Sunday - June 16, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - Peview Roundup #2

“Germans still like all the epic material where a guy has a club in his hand and runs through forests,” said Creative Director Jan Klose of Deck 13. “Maybe Polish people as well. I think for the region, stories are really big and storytelling is really big in this part of the world. And Dark fantasy is a cool way of telling stories, because they get more to the heart than some lighthearted, shiny-mailed knight running around without a care.” You can hear the disdain in his voice when he talks about traditional fantasy fare.

Every region of the world is different, and has different tastes and inclinations. He gave adventure games as an example. They're still a viable business in Germany, but less so in North America. “It's a cultural thing that people want to have these stories, and in Lords of the Fallen we don't want to tell the player a story, we want them to explore it.”

That's another very European style of game making. More than once this week at E3 I've heard from a developer that when you make a game for Americans, you generally need to tell them what to do every step of the way, or they get frustrated and annoyed. Tomasz Gop said that Eastern European players want you to leave the game obscure and explorable.

“They appreciate when you do that,” he said. “There's a strong demand from people to find out things on their own. So that's why we want to do this type of game, and we hope that we can be successful with it.”

Old school and new. Combat is typically slow and methodical, with the big Rhogar (boss baddie Lords) capable of downing the hero in one swipe. Gop openly compared his game to Dark Souls, which engages in the same environmental and combat play, but also cites old one-on-one fighting game Tekken as an inspiration. Every death, he says, and every conflict should feel fun and like something the player earned by learning how to play steadily.

Choices+. The characters you create are broken into three classes: the hammer-wielding cleric, the speedy rogue, and the tank warrior. You’re not locked into these roles once you start playing, since you can change up provided you find a full set of each class’ armor and weaponry. There are also three skill trees for leveling up your character as they fight and earn experience: intelligence, vitality, and endurance. It’s basic stuff, but it also accommodates different styles of play. If you like to be agile or a bruiser, it’s easy to change that up on the fly.

This might be an action RPG, but don’t think you can just charge into battle and spam abilities. You’ll quickly be punished for your foolish actions. The game has vicious foes who would like nothing less than to chop you in half. You’d be wise to learn enemy habits and dodge their attempts to murder you.

Most combat sequences will be between yourself and fewer than four foes. It’s intimate and challenging with blows received putting a large dent in your health pool. It’s difficult not to draw a correlation with Dark Souls, a game that follows some of the same core principles. However, Lords of the Fallen isn’t a game that emphasizes constant trial and error. Instead, it fills up time with a story.

The game's primary focus is evidently combat, with a heavy dose of strategy used to determine the when and how of battles. For example, with the cleric and his massive war hammer you have to time your attacks perfectly to even hope of landing a hit, while with the rogue you will have quicker strikes at your disposal. The game will also let you switch classes on the fly without much interruption to the flow of the game.

Armor will also play an important role in the game's progress as you will find pieces of equipment in chests and through specific actions. The catch is these armor pieces are not only specific to your class but all the classes, so if you find a cool dagger you'd like to use you may consider switching over to rogue for a bit to try it out. Each class also has their own special move based on action points. Once you have enough you can unleash your special move to turn the tide of combat.

City Interactive's lead developer Tomasz Gop claimed that Lords of the Fallen will be the most challenging of the next gen RPGs, and boasts that the game is more centered on combat and action than anything else. While I didn't see anything out of the ordinary as far as difficulty is concerned, the action within the game looks incredibly fun. You can play as three different classes: a Warrior, Rogue or Cleric. Each type of character plays as you would imagine: the warrior uses heavy armor and is strong, the Rogue is quick and uses mostly daggers, and the Cleric uses lighter armor but uses a heavy hammer that has to be timed well to be most effective. Each type of character has their own action, as well. A Cleric has the Dogma skill which allows him to spawn a clone of himself to fight alongside him. The Warrior had a power skill, and the Rogue had Shadow, which allows him to disappear to stealthily kill his foe in a powerful way.

Lords of the Fallen won't only focus on the action, though, as CI games promises there will be plenty of background lore for the medieval fantasy RPG. The story that we were given is that the game takes place 8000 years ago during a time when there's a fight against god and his army. In fact, if you look closely at the first image we received from Lords of the Fallen, you'll notice that what appears to be mountains is actually the hand of that fallen god. As you traverse through the world, there is more lore scattered about in different forms. We saw the protagonist, Harkyn, pick up a couple notes that were randomly spawned in the world, which contained lore. Tomasz Gop stated that finding lore is a major factor into the game's replayability and branching off from the main storyline. In fact, Gop teased that the game will be heavy on secrets and discovering, and re-exploration will be important to find hidden items that weren't there the first time.

There are a number of features that Lords of the Fallen has which sets it apart. Equipment and weapons are completely customizeable and there are secrets hidden throughout the game world that can be unlocked for amazing upgrades. The demo had three starting character types (Rogue, Warrior, Cleric) but you have the ability to customize it however you’d like as you progress. Characters can also learn Action Skills which can help you by increasing your power, distracting enemies, or rendering you invisible for a short time.

Lords of the Fallen - Preview Roundup

The game will have non-linear exploration, but will be broken up into chapters. The developers genuinely wanted to emphasize that the game will hold many secret collectibles and enhancements for those that really go hunting for them. The game will also reward players who decide to backtrack to previously visited levels when certain things or keys are obtained, with potent equipment and weapons.

One exciting point to note is that even although the game was shown off on a Computer, the game was built from the ground up for consoles, which means the Computer version is the port. Looks like subsequent-gen is turning development on its head, with PC’s acquiring ports rather than the other way around.

The gameplay demo follows Tomasz Gop, executive producer at City Interactive, as he guides a rogue character through the corridors of an ancient castle. Gop, formerly a senior producer on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, stresses that Lords of the Fallen is all about tactical combat that forces the player to learn from every death.

“Our goal is to make a game that properly rewards players for doing what it takes to win,” Gop said.

“Dying is not a failure; it’s part of the learning process.”

Gop runs across the demo’s first enemy, a knight reincarnated by a mysterious light hovering over the scene. The evidence for Gop’s “learning” approach is soon seen, as Gop’s character dies after two swings of the enemy’s sword.

“There’s a big difference between randomness and skill,” Gop said. “We want to cross that gap.”

After respawning close by, Gop uses his rogue’s quick dodges to dodge his enemy’s sword, quickly gaining an advantage as he stabs the knight up close. When the knight finally falls, Gop gains a level and points that he can allocate t”o specific character upgrades.

“It’s important that we give players a feeling of progress, and a feeling of learning new skills,” he said. “We’re not orthodox, though. We’re not focusing [entirely] on classes.”

Lords of the Fallen is an ARPG through and through, and actually takes a lot of elements and inspirations from Dark Souls. For one, the game wants to focus on very duel-oriented combat, meaning that rather than sending 10 enemies on you at once, you're generally going to be fighting an enemy or two at a time. While it sounds limiting, each fight, whether its a standard enemy, a miniboss or a giant monster, will feel tense, ande difficult.

Wednesday - June 12, 2013

Lords of the Fallen - E3 Preview

It seems Lords of the Fallen was at E3 but none of the big sites reported on it. So instead I have a rough translated article from a polish site called GameZilla.PL.

Eight thousand years ago there was a war between humans and God, and his army. People won over the years have forgotten what actually happened. And now suddenly this army returns. What is it?

The main character does not know, but I will fight. This means the player will fight, with a choice of three classes - Warrior, Cleric, with a powerful, but very slow weapon and Rogue - fast but weak.

Class distinction between so-called. action skills. So, for example, Rogue can disappear for a while. Warrior is a sort of berserk, but can not at this time to defend. Cleric creates while his clone, who aggruje. Leveling is used to unlock the skills that make up the whole tree - that differentiates the game of Dark Souls. Action skills are also a way for developers to facilitate the game. Aha - equipment can be freely chosen form, regardless of class.

Hero talks, dialogues are (your choice there were two options), so there will be so that we know the story just by reading or listening to descriptions of items monologues haunted NPCs, as in Dark Souls. You must also read the scattered notes, for instance to find out that to get a unique weapon you should look at one of the three statues. During the game there will be a few renders - but they will be enough. This what I've seen they look cool climate and make an impression.

Overall - I can not compare this game to Dark Souls, but stands out skillami action or even dialogue - but this is not a defect. Lords of the Fallen looks very solid (although not shocking graphics) as you like challenging titles, one-on-one battle lasting several minutes and generally broad challenge to be happy. I'm waiting!